The present invention relates to a machine for grouping in parallel rows products arriving continuously in a single line, for example for grouping products discharged in a single line by a packaging machine and subsequently fed, in appropriately spaced parallel rows, to a cartoning machine arranged downstream of said packaging machine.
It is already known to use, for this purpose, pneumatic and/or mechanical redirection devices which are suitable for directing the flow of products arriving in a single line into a plurality of distinct and separate lines which are in turn divided transversely in order to form the rows.
Said machines, which are based on the use of conveyor belts, are very bulky, do not allow to form very closely spaced rows and require the use of a plurality of appropriately synchronized belts having different speeds.
Intermittent machines are also known wherein the individual products of the line are accommodated, one by one, in corresponding individual rake-like seats which move, by virtue of a complicated actuation system, along a closed path transversely to the direction of flow of the individual line and wherein means are provided which simultaneously unload a plurality of said seats, forming corresponding rows of products.
In these known machines, the rows are unloaded intermittently after a preset group of seats has been filled with products and after said group of seats has been transferred from a loading position to an unloading position wherein the seats of the group are emptied simultaneously. During the transfer and unloading of the seat groups, the flow of products arriving in a single line does not stop; means are therefore provided which feed the individual products into the seats even during the unloading step.
Known arrangements entail, for this purpose, the movement of the entire seat actuation system with respect to the continuously operating single-line feeder so as to always move empty seats into alignment with said feeder.
This solution has many problems, and most of all it does not lend itself to high operating rates, due to the considerable inertial mass of the entire system which is moved. Said inertial mass also makes it very difficult to stop the actuation system in alignment with the conveyor which feeds the products in a single line, so that frequent machine jammings are possible.